Processing facilities are often managed using process control systems. Example processing facilities include manufacturing plants, chemical plants, crude oil refineries, and ore processing plants. Among other operations, process control systems typically manage the use of valves, actuators, and other industrial equipment in the processing facilities.
In many conventional processing facilities, industrial equipment is often difficult to access, examine, and maintain. For example, in a paper production process, steam actuators are often located in a hostile environment within a paper machine. In order to access the steam actuators, maintenance or other personnel often must disassemble a portion of the paper machine, which is a time consuming, labor intensive, and expensive endeavor. As a result, it is often inconvenient or undesirable to have the maintenance or other personnel physically examine and determine the status of the steam actuators.